Cree XM-L2

Received the Xeccon S12 fitted with XM-L2 emitter. There is a clear visual distinction between the XM-L2 and the U2 OD - I will let you guess. Mouse over the pics for the answer. Faye told me a week ago the tint was yellower than the U2 OD. She is right and it's a very light yellow unlike some bargain-basement-almost-brownish ones you get with budget lights or known manufacturers who hunt for the cheapest bins.

A wall shot comparison between the two does demonstrate the XM-L2 having a more intense center, but just - when using identical BAK 4400mAh batteries. IMO white tints are always more pronounced when it comes to intensity so to actually see the yellower tint brighter than the white is a good thing.

Cat has mentioned more than one a occasion good high-rated Panasonic batteries makes a difference with some of his torches. So I decided to try to do a cross-check between the BAK and Lithium Polymer battery we have. It's anecdotal and cannot confirm our brightness perception unless we have a sphere test, but the U2 OD with the LiPo looks 15% brighter than the XM-L2 with the BAK. When the LiPo is fitted to the XM-L2, it's about 30% brighter than the U2 OD with standard BAK. Will be testing it out in the trails later this week and if what I suspect is true, I know what I will be having in my Camelbak for my helmet lights from now on. Will do beam shots later.

Len, it's possible the Li-po battery has less internal resistance than a standard 18650 4-cell. That might give an initial brighter output until the lamp heats up. I can't wait to see how well the XM-L2 emitters work. I also can't wait till you get those Li-Po batteries in.

Len, it's possible the Li-po battery has less internal resistance than a standard 18650 4-cell. That might give an initial brighter output until the lamp heats up. I can't wait to see how well the XM-L2 emitters work. I also can't wait till you get those Li-Po batteries in.

Hey Cat, I have no idea about the performance of the LiPo. I will play around with the lamp in the meantime. Once the LiPos land, I will shoot this S12 head and a LiPo battery to you. Keen to hear your observations and test. It's definitely not my imagination that the LiPo had more effect on brightness than the comparison between U2 OD and XM-L2.

Physical description of T6/U2 vs XM-L2 and comparison shots

The fantastic thing about XM-L2 is, nobody can pull wool over our eyes by supplying T6 or U2 and calling it XM-L2. I for one am glad Cree has made it much easier to identify. Can a layman or even experienced users tell the difference between the T5, T6 and U2 by looking at the die? Most probably not. Sure, we can tell between the SSC P7, XP-G, XP-Es or the SST's.

Will do my best to describe them physically. The T6 and U2 has 3 copper type wires at the bottom going in from the PCB within the clear dome. Can't find the terminology to explain the vertical "lines" which divides the sulfurous die into 6 long rectangular sections within the square die. The die is on a green PCB with 2 visible silver points on the right hand side corners and two much smaller ones on the left side. This seem to apply to all T6 and U2 dies.

The XM-L2 on the other hand has 2 contact points at the bottom with no rectangular pattern inside. Instead it has evenly spaced "dimples" inside the clear dome set on a silver PCB - chances are this dimpled surface is the SC3 Technology Platform they are speaking of. The silver PCB has a small hole on the top right corner. So any listing declaring it's Cree XM-L2, on a green PCB, you know someone is being very loose with the truth.

Cree's page on the XM-L2 is here. We can ask Xeccon light to drive the light heads equipped with XM-L2 much higher, but do we really need to? Do we draw the line here and start aiming for efficiency and runtime. Comments would be appreciated.

We've been pretty busy preparing competitors for the Mont 24 this weekend and didn't get a whole lot of time to take beamshots of the XM-L U2 OD vs XM-L2. We have some wall shots and 4 track shots using 2 different cameras*. See if we can make anything out of it. Mouse over the pics to know which is what.

* Note: I've been using the HTC One X for beamshots. I find the shots to be more consistent with the actual although the Galaxy S has been our standard thus far. Recently, we've noticed pictures with "red distortion" with the Galaxy S' shots of the black sky. It is pitch black when it's taken so the pictures should show the actual conditions. We'll eventually move our beamshots over to the One X standard.

Spoke about the texture of the yellow/sulphur bit in the die. Managed to take a pic of it through a magnifying glass. Since mtbr reduces the pic size and resolution, it is best shown in full resolution pic via the image server I use here.

Any timeframe updates on this setup? I have a birthday coming up soon and keeping with tradition more lights are probably going to be my gift. Would love to give these a try

Just received the S12 Twos today while the LiPo packs arrived yesterday. We are waiting for some US chargers though. We may get them tomorrow or Monday. We can definitely send on Tuesday via FedEx or DHL. Please choose from the AU website for now.